PRESS CONFERENCE FOR THE PRESENTATION
OF THE "COMPENDIUM OF THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH"

INTERVENTION BY CARD.
RENATO RAFFAELE MARTINO

Monday, 25 October
2004

I am particularly pleased to make public today the long-awaited
document "Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church". This document
has been prepared - at the request of the Holy Father, to whom it is dedicated -
by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which is fully responsible for
its content. It is now made available to all - Catholics, other Christians,
people of good will - who seek sure signs of truth in order to better promote
the social good of persons and societies. This work began five years ago under
the presidency of my venerated predecessor Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyęn Van
Thuân. An unavoidable delay in the work was caused by the sickness and death of
Cardinal Van Thuân and by the subsequent change in presidency of the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace.

The drafting of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the
Church was not a simple undertaking. The most complex problems that had to
be dealt with were essentially those determined by: a) the fact that this
amounted to compiling a text that had no precedent in the Church's history; b)
the attempt to bring into focus certain complex epistemological questions
inherent in the nature of the Church’s social doctrine; c) the need to give a
unified and universal dimension to the document notwithstanding the countless
facets and unlimited variety of social realities in the world and of the world;
and d) the desire to offer a teaching that loses nothing of its lustre over
time, in an historical period marked by very rapid and radical social, economic
and political changes.

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
offers a complete overview of the fundamental framework of the doctrinal corpus
of Catholic social teaching. Faithful to the authoritative recommendation made
by the Holy Father John Paul II in No. 54 of the Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation
Ecclesia in America, the document presents "in a complete and systematic
manner, even if by means of an overview, the Church’s social teaching, which is
the fruit of careful Magisterial reflection and an expression of the Church’s
constant commitment in fidelity to the grace of salvation wrought in Christ and
in loving concern for humanity’s destiny" (Compendium, 8).

The Compendium has a simple and straight-forward
structure. After an Introduction, there follow three parts. The first,
composed of four chapters, deals with the fundamental presuppositions of social
doctrine -- God's plan of love for humanity and society, the Church's mission
and the nature of social doctrine, the human person and human rights, and the
principles and values of social doctrine. The second part, composed of seven
chapters, deals with the contents and classical themes of social doctrine -- the
family, human work, economic life, the political community, the international
community, the environment and peace. The third part, which is quite brief, with
just one chapter, contains a series of recommendations for the use of social
doctrine in the pastoral activity of the Church and in the life of Christians,
above all the lay faithful. The Conclusion, entitled "For a Civilization
of Love", is an expression of the underlying purpose of the entire document.

The work is accompanied by extensive indexes that make for easy
and very useful consultation.

The Compendium has a specific goal and is characterized
by certain objectives spelled out in No. 10 of the Introduction. The
document "is presented as an instrument for the moral and pastoral discernment
of the complex events that mark our time; as a guide to inspire, at the
individual and community levels, attitudes and choices that will permit all
people to look to the future with greater trust and hope; as an aid for the
faithful concerning the Church’s teaching in the area of social morality" (Compendium,
10). It is moreover an instrument put together for the precise purpose of
promoting "new strategies suited to the demands of our time and in keeping with
human needs and resources. But above all there can arise the motivation to
rediscover the vocation proper to the different charisms within the Church that
are destined to the evangelization of the social order, because 'all the
members of the Church are sharers in this secular dimension'1" (Compendium,
10).

A point worth emphasising, because it is found in various parts
of the document, is the following: the text is presented as an instrument for
fostering ecumenical and interreligious dialogue on the part of Catholics
with all who sincerely seek the good of mankind. In fact, the statement is made
in No. 12 that the document "is proposed also to the brethren of other Churches
and Ecclesial Communities, to the followers of other religions, as well as to
all people of good will who are committed to serving the common good". Social
doctrine, indeed, is intended for a universal audience, in addition to those to
whom it is primarily and specifically addressed, the sons and daughters of the
Church. The light of the Gospel, which social doctrine brings to shine on
society, illuminates every person; every conscience and every intellect is able
to grasp the human depths of meaning and values expressed in this doctrine, as
well as the outpouring of humanity and humanization contained in its norms for
action.

Obviously, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the
Church concerns Catholics first of all, for "the first recipient of the
Church’s social doctrine is the Church community in its entire membership,
because everyone has social responsibilities that must be fulfilled … In the
tasks of evangelization, that is to say, of teaching, catechesis and formation
that the Church’s social doctrine inspires, it is addressed to every Christian,
each according to the competence, charisms, office and mission of proclamation
that is proper to each one" (Compendium, 83). Social doctrine also
implies responsibility regarding the construction, organization and functioning
of society: political, economic and administrative duties, or duties of a
secular nature that belong to the lay faithful in a particular way because of
the secular nature of their state of life and vocation. By means of this
responsibility, the laity put social doctrine into practice and fulfil the
Church's secular mission.

In the preparation of the Compendium, the question of the
place of the Church’s social doctrine in today's world was constantly raised. In
formulating an answer to this question, it was decided that proceeding along the
road of a simple sociological analysis was not necessary, nor was a listing of
social priorities or emerging problems. Rather, it was thought that the
Compendium should represent a serious and precise instrument suitable for
assisting that discernment - a cognitive act of the Church and the community -
that is so indispensable today. Christian discernment is based on reading the
signs of the times, a reading made in the light of the Word of God and that
corpus of truth the magisterium has established as the Church’s social doctrine,
for the purpose of giving direction to community and personal action. With this
we arrive at the very heart of the Church’s social doctrine, we touch its
innermost nature as "the encounter of the Gospel message and of its demands …
with the problems emanating from the life of society"2. The
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church presents the Church’s social
doctrine as a doctrine that is born from discernment, that is itself
discernment, and that has discernment as its goal.

It is in this basic perspective that the Compendium has
the high expectation of helping to bring about a discernment capable of
responding to certain decisive challenges of great relevance and importance.

a) First is the cultural challenge, which social doctrine
deals with by keeping in mind its constitutive interdisciplinary dimension.
Through her social doctrine the Church "proclaims the truth about Christ, about
herself and about man, applying this truth to a concrete situation"3.
It is therefore evident that, in view of the future, social doctrine will always
have to further develop its interdisciplinary dimension4. This
interdisciplinary aspect is not something extraneous but an intrinsic dimension
of the Church’s social doctrine, because it is closely connected with the goal
of incarnating the eternal truth of the Gospel in the historical problems
humanity must face. The truth of the Gospel needs to be brought into contact
with the various branches of human knowledge because faith is not foreign to
reason. The historical fruits of justice and peace develop when the light of the
Gospel filters through and enters the fabric of human cultures, respecting the
mutual autonomy of faith and knowledge, but also heeding their analogous
connections. When dialogue with the various disciplines of knowledge draws the
parties closer together and becomes productive, the Church’s social doctrine is
able to fulfil its role of fostering the planning of new social, economic and
political programmes, at the centre of which is the human person in all his
dimensions.

It is hardly necessary to observe how a theologically-oriented
interdisciplinary dimension is able to respond to two needs that are strongly
felt in today's culture. Modern culture rejects any kind of "closed" system, but
at the same time it is in search of reasoned explanations. The Church’s social
doctrine is not "a closed system"5, and there are two reasons why
this is so: because it is historical, that is, it "develops in accordance
with the changing circumstances of history"6; and because it draws
its origins from the message of the Gospel7, which is transcendent
and, precisely for this reason, is the principal "source of renewal"8
for history. This interdisciplinary dimension allows social doctrine to offer
guidance without being a system and without being a misguiding system.

b) The second challenge arises from ethical and religious
indifference and the need for renewed interreligious cooperation. At the
social level, the most important aspects of widespread indifference are the
separation between ethics and politics and the conviction that ethical questions
have no place in the public arena, that they cannot be the object of rational
political debate, held as expressions of individual, even private, choices. By
extension, the separation between ethics and politics tends to be applied as
well to the relationship between politics and religion, which is assigned to the
realm of private matters.

In this area the Church’s social doctrine has an arduous task to
fulfil today and in the near future, a task that is more easily engaged if it is
undertaken in dialogue with other Christian professions and even with
non-Christian religions. Interreligious cooperation will be one of the paths of
great strategic value for the good of humanity and decisive in the future of
social doctrine. Looking through the eyes of Christian wisdom at the events of
the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the new millennium, we
can, as the Holy Father has indicated, identify at least one historical area of
primary importance for interreligious dialogue in the social sphere. This is the
area of peace and human rights. Everyone knows the numerous and heartfelt
appeals made by the Pope in this regard. A review of
John Paul II's Addresses to
the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See during these twenty-six years of
the pontificate is enough to give us an idea of the frequency and insistence of
his appeals for the world's religions to work together for peace, in the "spirit
of Assisi". It is sufficient here to recall the reference in his
Message for the
2002 World Day of Peace, where the Holy Father wrote: "The various Christian
confessions, as well as the world's great religions, need to work together to
eliminate the social and cultural causes of terrorism. They can do this by
teaching the greatness and dignity of the human person, and by spreading a
clearer sense of the oneness of the human family. This is a specific area of
ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and cooperation, a pressing service which
religion can offer to world peace"9.

In the near future, the areas of human rights, peace, social and
economic justice, and development will be increasingly at the centre of
interreligious dialogue. Catholics will be called to participate in this
dialogue with their social doctrine, understood as a "doctrinal corpus" that
prompts, but is also nurtured by, "the fruitful activity of many millions of
people, who … have sought to make that teaching the inspiration for their
involvement in the world"10.

c) The third challenge is a properly pastoral challenge.
The future of the Church’s social doctrine in the modern world will depend on
the continually renewed understanding of this social doctrine as being rooted in
the mission proper to the Church; of how this doctrine is born from the Word of
God and from the living faith of the Church; of how it is an expression of the
Church's service to the world, in which the salvation of Christ is to be
proclaimed in word and deed. It depends on the renewed understanding, therefore,
of how this doctrine is connected with all aspects of the Church's life and
action: the sacraments, the liturgy, catechesis, and pastoral activity. The
Church’s social doctrine, which "is an essential part of the Christian message"11,
must be known, propagated and lived. When, in any way whatsoever, one loses the
keen awareness that this social doctrine belongs to the Church's mission, social
doctrine itself is manipulated, falling prey to various forms of ambiguity and
partisan application.

Here I would like to recall the famous expression "Catholic
social doctrine is an integral part of the Christian conception of life"12,
with which Blessed Pope John XXIII, in his encyclical Mater et Magister,
paved the way many years earlier for the successive, important and profound
statements of John Paul II: "the teaching and spreading of her social doctrine
are part of the Church's evangelizing mission"13; an "instrument
of evangelization"14, social doctrine "proclaims God and his
mystery of salvation in Christ to every human being"15. The less this
doctrine is reduced to discourses of sociology or political science, to
moralizing exhortations, to "a pseudo-science of well-being"16 or to
a simple "ethics for difficult situations", the better it will be able to render
its service to men and women in the fabric of society and in the economic
sphere. It will be ever better known, taught, lived and incarnated in the
fullness of its "vital link with the Gospel of the Lord"17.

Concluding this presentation of the Compendium of the Social
Doctrine of the Church with these reflections on the role of the Church’s
social doctrine in today's world as it faces the new challenges of
evangelization, I would like to emphasize a twofold dimension of the presence of
Christians in society, a twofold inspiration that comes to us from this social
doctrine itself and that in the future will increasingly need to be lived in a
complementarity that brings many different aspects together. I am referring to
the need for personal witness on the one hand, and, on the other, to the need
for the planning of new programmes for an authentic humanism that involves
social structures. These two dimensions, personal and social, must never be
separated. My fervent hope is that the Compendium of the Church’s Social
Doctrine will help to develop authentic, believing characters and inspire
them to bear credible witness capable, by thought and by action, of modifying
the mechanisms of modern society. There is always a need for witnesses, martyrs
and saints, also in the social sphere. Popes have made repeated reference to
people who have lived their presence in society bearing "witness to Christ the
Saviour"18. We are speaking here of all those whom Rerum Novarum
considered "worthy of all praise"19 for their active commitment to
improving, in that time, the conditions of workers; of those who, in the words
of Centesimus Annus, "succeeded time after time in finding effective ways
of bearing witness to the truth"20; of those who "spurred on by the
social magisterium, have sought to make that teaching the inspiration for their
involvement in the world. Acting either as individuals or joined together in
various groups, associations and organizations, these people represent a
great movement for the defence of the human person and the safeguarding of
human dignity"21. We are speaking here of many Christians, many of
whom are lay people, who "attained holiness in the most ordinary circumstances
of life"22. Personal witness - fruit of an "adult" Christian life,
profound and mature - cannot fail to undertake also the task of building a new
civilization, in dialogue with the various branches of human knowledge, in
dialogue with other religions and with all people of good will to bring about an
integral humanism marked by solidarity.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, Instruction Libertatis Conscientia, 72.

3

John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 41.

4

"The Church’s social teaching has an
important interdisciplinary dimension. In order better to incarnate the one
truth about man in different and constantly changing social, economic and
political contexts, this teaching enters into dialogue with the various
disciplines concerned with man. It assimilates what these disciplines have to
contribute, and helps them to open themselves to a broader horizon, aimed at
serving the individual person who is acknowledged and loved in the fullness of
his or her vocation" (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus,
59).

5

Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, Instruction Libertatis Conscientia, 72.

6

Ibid.

7

Ibid.

8

Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens, 42.

9

John Paul II, "No Peace Without Justice,
No Justice Without Forgiveness", Message for the 2002 World Day of Peace, 12.